4 Comments

Israel is America's ally.

And Israelis have amazing accomplishments (a strong democracy, a powerful nation, and a vibrant culture).

But.

Israel is committing ugly crimes in the name of "survival".

In many respects, Israel is not far off Russian behavior.

Ugly nationalism is ugly, no matter who does it.

The US gives more than $4 billion a year to Israel.

Either Israel should behave better, or we should cut back on our support.

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America provides far great support - militarily and financially - to many countries that are not democratic, have terrible human rights records and offer none of the accomplishments/contributions in various areas that Israel does. I say that to make the point that - metrics for aid and support should be consistent. As well, keep in mind the value of Israel as a regional superpower to US geopolitical interests in the mid east and beyond.

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Having lived in Indonesia I understand your story on Libya however you forget to point out that the US has a way of interfering with a democratic elected government with a clear mandate.

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The status of the government isn’t so clear cut. Nor is its mandate what I would characterize as being clear. I expect that the primary mover in this scenario is Italy, which not only has a deep colonial history in Libya but strong present reasons for engaging. It’s realpolitik. Everyone has an angle and interest. And this woman’s life is ruined.

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